Thanks for sharing Kuhan! EA Philippines (and our student chapter EA Blue) has grown a lot as well and have had a good amount of people showing up to our virtual events. So I definitely see why Stanford EA has grown, and I think a few other chapters (mainly student chapters I think) have grown and maximized virtual activities during this pandemic.
Anyway, I have simple questions on two things you said:
1. On co-working:
On top of co-working being a good opportunity for socializing, I’ve found my and other members’ productivity goes up a lot when sharing our screens during co-working sessions (highly recommend).
Do you mean two or more people are sharing their screen at the same time? How does that work? We share our screens for group meetings, but I’ve never heard of screen-sharing during co-working sessions. Also, wouldn’t people feel like they are being watched (or that they might show something private) if they are screensharing while working?
2. When you said you have “around twice as much weekly programming as pre-pandemic”, around how many events on average is that per week exactly? Also, how do you know that this is the right amount (and not too little or too much)? Is it your hope that every member at Stanford EA is showing up to at least 1 event per week?
Do you mean two or more people are sharing their screen at the same time? How does that work? We share our screens for group meetings, but I’ve never heard of screen-sharing during co-working sessions. Also, wouldn’t people feel like they are being watched (or that they might show something private) if they are screen-sharing while working?
Yea we allow multiple participant screen-sharing on Zoom, which does run the risk of people seeing something private, but at least for me it really helps me not succumb to distractions, so the risk is worth it. You can’t see other people’s screens while sharing yours on Zoom, but everyone has the option of stopping sharing for a while and checking in on others, so the chance of that is often enough to keep us motivated. I think Focusmate might be another alternative, I haven’t looked into other options yet.
2. When you said you have “around twice as much weekly programming as pre-pandemic”, around how many events on average is that per week exactly? Also, how do you know that this is the right amount (and not too little or too much)? Is it your hope that every member at Stanford EA is showing up to at least 1 event per week?
It’s hard to count since some members are involved in multiple daily activities (e.g. goal setting and co-working) while others just come to weekly programming (like our exec meetings/discussions/board game nights) but I’ve listed all of our recurring programming in the above post. I would love for every member of Stanford EA to show up to at least 1 event per week, and we have some systems in place to help with this (e.g. lots of mentors for our fellowships, many cause area subgroups to cater to all members’ interests, etc.), but in practice this isn’t the case. As for deciding how much is too much, if attendance for an event is low and it doesn’t seem to be very valuable we’re pretty comfortable cutting things.
Interesting concept with the screen-sharing. The alternative I know is to share your video – that in itself can be motivating for people even if they technically could be doing other things. However, I’m mainly used to co-working that integrates the daily goal setting technique, and even expands it so you set a goal before each session (if you do it pomodoro style) and check-in in the breaks about whether you reached your goal or not + get feedback/support from others if you are stuck. In that way, it will soon become very clear if one was just browsing on youtube instead of working 😊 Another tool that supports co-working is Complice: you can share videos, set your goals and sub-goals and it has a Pomodoro timer (that one can adjust for the room). It only has text chat option though and not video chat. Technically you have to pay for certain features but for me the free version was enough.
Thanks for sharing Kuhan! EA Philippines (and our student chapter EA Blue) has grown a lot as well and have had a good amount of people showing up to our virtual events. So I definitely see why Stanford EA has grown, and I think a few other chapters (mainly student chapters I think) have grown and maximized virtual activities during this pandemic.
Anyway, I have simple questions on two things you said:
1. On co-working:
Do you mean two or more people are sharing their screen at the same time? How does that work? We share our screens for group meetings, but I’ve never heard of screen-sharing during co-working sessions. Also, wouldn’t people feel like they are being watched (or that they might show something private) if they are screensharing while working?
2. When you said you have “around twice as much weekly programming as pre-pandemic”, around how many events on average is that per week exactly? Also, how do you know that this is the right amount (and not too little or too much)? Is it your hope that every member at Stanford EA is showing up to at least 1 event per week?
Yea we allow multiple participant screen-sharing on Zoom, which does run the risk of people seeing something private, but at least for me it really helps me not succumb to distractions, so the risk is worth it. You can’t see other people’s screens while sharing yours on Zoom, but everyone has the option of stopping sharing for a while and checking in on others, so the chance of that is often enough to keep us motivated. I think Focusmate might be another alternative, I haven’t looked into other options yet.
It’s hard to count since some members are involved in multiple daily activities (e.g. goal setting and co-working) while others just come to weekly programming (like our exec meetings/discussions/board game nights) but I’ve listed all of our recurring programming in the above post. I would love for every member of Stanford EA to show up to at least 1 event per week, and we have some systems in place to help with this (e.g. lots of mentors for our fellowships, many cause area subgroups to cater to all members’ interests, etc.), but in practice this isn’t the case. As for deciding how much is too much, if attendance for an event is low and it doesn’t seem to be very valuable we’re pretty comfortable cutting things.
Interesting concept with the screen-sharing. The alternative I know is to share your video – that in itself can be motivating for people even if they technically could be doing other things. However, I’m mainly used to co-working that integrates the daily goal setting technique, and even expands it so you set a goal before each session (if you do it pomodoro style) and check-in in the breaks about whether you reached your goal or not + get feedback/support from others if you are stuck. In that way, it will soon become very clear if one was just browsing on youtube instead of working 😊
Another tool that supports co-working is Complice: you can share videos, set your goals and sub-goals and it has a Pomodoro timer (that one can adjust for the room). It only has text chat option though and not video chat. Technically you have to pay for certain features but for me the free version was enough.